Frustrating weekend for Haas F1 in Sochi as Grosjean crashes out
The Haas F1 team endured a frustrating weekend in Sochi with Romain Grosjean crashing out on the first lap, and Kevin Magnussen finishing out of the points in 12th.
The team made life difficult for itself by switching to Carbone Industrie brakes at the start of the weekend only for cooling issues to force a switch back to Brembo for Saturday, leaving it to play catch up.
After starting on the last row, Grosjean was eliminated in a first lap clash with Jolyon Palmer, with the FIA taking no action and deciding that neither man was the main culprit.
“There’s not much to say,” the Haas man explained. “I had a great start, a great run into Turn One, passed Jolyon under braking. Then I was on the inside, he turned, we had contact, he spun his car. He came back and hit me a second time, and that put me in the wall. That was it.
“I was full of hope going into the race. Trying to understand what happened in quali and what we could do better, to help the team and to help us grow. A really positive mentality going into the race.”
Magnussen meanwhile struggled for pace throughout.
“It’s just been a bit of an off-weekend for us,” said the Dane. “We’ve had some strong weekends in the first three races, then not so strong this weekend for some reason. I guess you always learn. I don’t think this is representative for the rest of the season, it’s just an off weekend I hope. It’s difficult when you have a midfield so tight, it doesn’t take a big mistake before you fall back. Not ideal but that’s what we got.”
